


A Walk In The Garden

by redcandle17



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - Martin
Genre: F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-30
Updated: 2010-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-06 20:19:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redcandle17/pseuds/redcandle17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansa's walk in the garden is disturbed when the Hound takes Ser Meryn's place guarding her. Set between AGoT and ACoK.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk In The Garden

It was the Kingsguard knights who followed Sansa everywhere now, not common guardsmen. "It's their duty to protect my Queen-to-be as they protect me," Joffrey had told her gallantly. Sansa had thanked him, even though her cheek still hurt from the blow one of them had dealt her on his order. It was an honor she could have done without. The presence of the white-cloaked knights only served to remind Sansa that she was a prisoner. Worse, it reminded her that the Hound was right; there were no true knights, at least not here in the Red Keep.

She strolled through the queen's garden, wishing she was back home at Winterfell. She would have preferred to stay in her bed chamber at the top of the highest tower in Maegor's Holdfast, but she was afraid that Joffrey would come and have his men drag her out if she spent too much time there. The garden was lovely, full of sunshine and flowers in half a hundred colors. It was the sort of thing she'd dreamed of before she knew its price.

"I'll take her from here," said a raspy voice. Sansa turned around to find the Hound speaking with Ser Meryn.

"I thought you were off today," Ser Meryn said.

"If you want to pick flowers, it's fine with me," the Hound replied nastily.

"No, you take her. Thank you, ser."

"You're the knight, Trant, not me," Sandor Clegane said, scowling.

Sansa turned away before he could catch her staring. He frightened her, and not just because of his burnt face. _Why is he here?_ She wondered if Joffrey had sent him to beat her. He hadn't done that so far, only the others. She resumed walking and feigned interest in the rose bushes.

Unlike Ser Meryn, the Hound was not content to trail behind her in silence. He walked beside her and spoke. "Are they prettier when they come from the Knight of Flowers?"

Sansa didn't know what to say. She decided to ignore him. It wasn't courteous, but then Septa Mordane had never taught her how a lady responds to mockery. She walked past the roses and stopped by the irises. She picked a bunch of blue ones that would look beautiful in her hair. There were benches set throughout the garden, but the sun was too warm for her. It was shady beneath the fruit trees so Sansa headed there. She found a nice spot beneath a pear tree and sat down to weave herself a crown.

The Hound leaned against another tree and watched her. Sansa could tell he was angry even without looking at his scarred face. _I haven't done anything to him._ He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight. Septa Mordane would have called it fidgeting. Sansa had never thought about it before but being a bodyguard must be dreadfully boring most of the time.

"How is it you don't dress all in white like the other Kingsguard, my lord?" she asked. The Hound wore his white cloak, but unlike the other Kingsguard who dressed in silks and velvets of spotless white, he wore a roughspun brown tunic. His armor wasn't shining white like theirs either; his was the same dull grey he'd worn before he was appointed to Joffrey's Kingsguard.

Clegane laughed. "It doesn't bother Joff so what does it matter?"

"It would look handsome."

"Handsome?" he barked. "Only if I covered my face with pretty white cloth too."

She'd only made him angrier. Sansa decided to just be quiet. She finished her crown of flowers and placed it on her head. It wasn't much fun alone. Only two moons ago she and Jeyne Poole had played together right here and made plans about all the things they'd do when Sansa was Queen. Suddenly angry, Sansa snatched the crown off her head and shredded the flowers.

She rose and walked deeper into the grove of fruit trees. At home most of their fruits were grown in the glass garden. The glass garden had been one of her favorite places. She used to visit it and pretend she was at Highgarden, a queen making her royal progress through the south. She stopped beneath an apple tree laden with ripening fruit and looked up. Even the lowest branch was high above her head.

Her brothers and even her sister Arya would have climbed the tree, but ladies did not climb trees. Sansa supposed she could have used a stick to bat at the apples until one fell, but there were no sticks about. She glanced at the Hound. He was very tall; he could probably pick an apple for her if he was so inclined. She waited, but he didn't offer. She summoned her courage to ask. _Surely he won't refuse._

"May I please have an apple?"

Sandor Clegane stared at her and Sansa was afraid he would refuse after all. She felt foolish. Just as she was about to walk back to Maegor's and try to forget this embarrassment, he reached up and plucked a single apple. He held it out to her.

Sansa took it, and made herself look him in the face. "Thank you, my lord."

He didn't reply until she was biting into the apple. "Aren't you going to share, little bird?"

Sansa was confused, but she could only hand the apple back to him. _Why doesn't he pick another one for himself?_

He took a bite - from the same spot she'd bitten into, she noted - and gave it back. Sansa ate her apple as they made their way back to Maegor's, wondering at the Hound's odd behavior and very aware that he was watching her. She was eager to be away from him, but she walked slowly so he wouldn't know and be angry at her again.

"That apple was green," he said, when they were climbing the stairs to her tower room. "Next time ask a servant to fetch you a ripe one instead of wandering out there yourself."

_It was delicious. He's just mean._ Sansa thanked him for seeing her to her chambers safely and fled inside. She hoped it was Ser Arys who came to escort her to dinner, not him.


End file.
